[newspaper article, probably in Nashville, TN, abt Aug 1933]

Aged Woman, Believed Poverty-Stricken, Dies Leaving Estate to Poor of Two Counties

Murfreesboro, Tenn. – A strange old woman, who died apparently in abject poverty at a lonely farmhouse on the Walter Hill road two weeks ago, left a trust fund to care for the poor of two counties, the reading of her will disclosed.

Miss Bethenia Nance, recluse, antique collector, and brilliant law student, bequeathed her estate to her sister, Miss Sue M. Nance of Antioch, Tenn., which upon her death, is to be turned over to a board of trust and used for the benefit of the poor of Rutherford county and Halifax county, Virginia.

The home and farmlands are assessed at $4,200 in addition to a collection of antiques estimated at several hundred dollars. The will also disposes of lands in Davidson county and various personal possessions.

Miss Nance had lived alone in the old farm house for many years, an eccentric about whom her closest neighbors knew very little. A window on the north side of her bedroom was raised last winter for the first time in 30 years, upon a physician's command, and the clothes of a kinsman, Elder William Owen, had hung untouched in the wardrobe where he left them at his death a half century ago.

The assortment of antiques includes: A square Steinway piano; a broadaxe over 150 years old; a spinning wheel over 150 years old; two ancient hunting horns; a pocketbook made of two sea shells hinged with a clasp; a dipper with glass bowl and wooden handle; old-fashioned square-lense glasses with adjustable ear hooks; a duster of peacock; an old metal candle lantern; an iron apple peeler; a bizarre collection of hats and hoopskirts of two generations ago; 30 Cardui calendars hung one atop the other in chronological order; just as she had hung them from year to year; a black walnut cradle containing only two pieces of metal, having been designed by the tongue and groove method; three unopened bottles of Warner's Kidney Cure, a physic that has not been made in over 30 years; a complete loom; side-saddles; several bound volumes of patent office reports; a cord of 30-year-old firewood cut and stacked in the woodhouse by the long dead Elder Owen; a laundry sink made of a great hollow log, and a flour sack crammed with human hair.

The recluse was said to have had an extensive knowledge of law and wrote her will herself in 1909.

The will, which was written in long hand, follows: "I, Bethenia H. Nance, in view of the brevity and uncertainty of human life and in the presence of the God whom I trust in life and death, do make and declare this to be my last will and testament.

"I direct that all my just debts be paid, together will all my funeral expenses.

"I bequeath the tract of land on which I now reside, given to me by the will of the late Elder William B. Owen, to have and to hold until my death, and to devise by will as I may desire to my sister, Sue M. Nance, during her natural life, and to have the proceeds of the use of this property to enjoy as she may please, and I prefer that she remain on said property during her life. I stipulate that the growing forest trees on said land be preserved, not cutting down nor using any growing tree for any purpose.

"At the death of my sister, Sue M. Nance, I direct said land and home be placed in the hands of the county court clerk, trustee and register of said county of Rutherford, as a board of trustees and their successors in office forever, all incomes arising from use of said property to be equally divided between the county courts of Rutherford and Halifax county, Virginia, to be known as the Elder William B. Owen Memorial Fund, and to be applied to the use and benefit of said counties of Tennessee and Virginia."

The will next disposes of the following real and personal property:

"Land in Davidson county to brother or sisters who survive, with father's heirs by name of Nance as next beneficiaries. The stipulation as to destroying trees also applies to this land; N. C. and St. L. Railroad stock to Josiah Nance; to Della Harden Covington, all silverware; to Pattie C. Johnson, one silk quilt; to Bethenia Sneed, one silk quilt; to Davidson county teachers' library, all school text books; to Tennessee Historical Society, all law and religious books bequeathed by the Eld. William B. Owen."